Were the fighters children? noWas she the only one summoned? noIs the person who summoned here relevant? noDid more than one person summon her? noWhoever summoned her - did he/she/they know the fighters? no know one of the fighters? noWas the fighting taking place in a prison? noAs a doctor, did she work in a hospital? yes

Was she at work when the summons came? yes Was she on the way to work? Was she on the way home from work? no to restWas the fight taking place at her place of work? yes

When she received the summons, how far away was she from the scene of the fight ... less than 10 metres? less than 100 metres? less than 500 metres? less than a kilometre? More than a kilometre? inside the hospital, otherwise irrel

Was she expected to say anything to the fighers? no

After looking at the puzzle statement I'd written in a temporary sleepless haze, I now think it's too potentially misleading to make for a good puzzle and I'd better reword it. Sorry about the change!

**** CLARIFIED PUZZLE ALERT ****

Arriving at the scene of a violent fistfight shortly after hearing that her presence was urgently needed there, Sylvia couldn't understand why she had been summoned.

Were the fighters doctors? Nurses? Patients? Male? Female? One of each? Age relevant? Elderly?

Is she a specialist in one or more field of medicine? Are the specialist skills needed? Are they relevant? Is her specialty something that has nothing to do with treating trauma associated with fistfights? Was this the reason she was confused? Is she supposed to treat the injured in some way? Are the injured going to hurt themselves in some other way than fighting? Indirectly because of catheters or I.V.:s or such? Was there a shortage of personnel?

Is she a specialist in one or more field of medicine? yesAre the specialist skills needed? not at all Are they relevant? noIs her specialty something that has nothing to do with treating trauma associated with fistfights? yes Was this the reason she was confused? yes, one of the reasonsIs she supposed to treat the injured in some way? noAre the injured going to hurt themselves in some other way than fighting? no Indirectly because of catheters or I.V.:s or such? noWas there a shortage of personnel? no

By Lynne (Lynne) on Sunday, September 25, 2005 - 03:54 pm: Was she puzzled because she knew that brute force would be needed and she thought she was too slight to be of any use? yes exactly; this was the other reason for her confusion

By Barbara Johannessen Bailey (Rabrab) on Monday, September 26, 2005 - 08:31 pm: Was Sylvia summoned specifically? yope Was she the only person summoned? yopeOr was it more like "All available personnel..." no

Summoned: called on the intercom? yes called on the phone? no told in person by someone? no

By Lewis Zeiters (Lzeiters) on Monday, September 26, 2005 - 09:02 pm: was she actually intended to be summoned? NO

or was there an identity mix-up, and a different person was actually supposed to have been the one summoned? yesish

Oh, another thought: was the page a 'Code [something]'? did she confuse the codes and think that it was for a doctor, when it was for someother response? (frex Code Blue generally means a resuscitation team is needed, but Code Brown may mean security is needed.)

Was the page actually for security? yesa particular orderly? noa particular staff member who was good at breaking up fights? noa particular piece of equipment? no(restraints of some sort perhaps?) no

Oh, another thought: was the page a 'Code [something]'? (frex Code Blue generally means a resuscitation team is needed, but Code Brown may mean security is needed.) not 'Code' exactly, but this is *very* close to the right ideadid she confuse the codes and think that it was for a doctor, when it was for some other response? no

Did they use a made-up name to call for security to avoid alarming the civilians? Rather than having an announcement about "Security to the ER stat--bring restraints and tasers..." they announce "Dr. So-and-so to the ER, Dr. So-and-so to the ER." when there really isn't (supposed to be) any Dr. with that name, and the security guys are supposed to recognize it and respond? And Sylvia's new there and happens to have the made-up name as her real name?

By Jennifer Warde (Tigger32382) on Tuesday, September 27, 2005 - 07:30 pm: Is her last name relevant? Is it the name of a color? no Instead of code something, was it "blue alert..." or something like that? or "blue please report to..." no

By Lewis Zeiters (Lzeiters) on Tuesday, September 27, 2005 - 08:56 pm: "silver team please report to _____"? no

By Tim A. Dowd (Bodo) on Tuesday, September 27, 2005 - 09:38 pm: Did they use a made-up name to call for security to avoid alarming the civilians? Rather than having an announcement about "Security to the ER stat--bring restraints and tasers..." they announce "Dr. So-and-so to the ER, Dr. So-and-so to the ER." when there really isn't (supposed to be) any Dr. with that name, and the security guys are supposed to recognize it and respond? And Sylvia's new there and happens to have the made-up name as her real name? got it - exactly right!

By Lauri Ahonen (Klaivu) on Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - 12:14 am: Sylvia in X ( x where the thing was taking place )? noOr Sylvias last name taking place in X? no

***** SPOILER ***** To avoid upsetting patients who need a calm environment, hospitals are reluctant to broadcast something like "Security to Ward 5 immediately" over the intercom during an emergency. This particular hospital used the phrase "Dr. Strong to room XXX" to alert security staff without alarming the public - this worked well until endocrinologist Dr. Sylvia Strong arrived for her first day of work and was surprised to be paged to a major fistfight (where none of the participants were diabetic.)

This puzzle was inspired when I heard University Hospitals of Cleveland had once used that exact "Dr. Strong" phrase for security situations. They have since changed to something more boring like "Code Gray".

Good one! I remember hearing about a hospital that would page the residents to the autopsy room when there was something they should see (in the furthering of their education of course,) with "Paging Dr. Post. Paging Dr. Mortimer Post..."